State of the Union Address

I always look forward to the State of the Union address because it is a time when the president is supposed to tell the country what is going on, not the media. I was especially looking forward to this year's address because I had heard that the members of Congress and guests that were attending the speech were going to be sitting amongst each other instead of divided by party. I thought this was a really smart idea because it always appeared childish to me when the each side would stand up and clap (for, in my opinion, unreasonably long periods of time) when they agreed with something that the president said. Although there was some obvious division amongst avid clappers, the speech seemed to have a different atmosphere. It felt like there was a little less tension and everyone seemed more civilized.

There were a couple of things about Obama's address that I liked, and there were a couple things about it that I didn't like. To begin, I thought he did a good job on saying things that were appealing to everyone. I believe that it was smart to not say anything extremely controversial (or declare a fixed opinion on sensitive issues) because it definitely did not create such a tense atmosphere. The only things he gave the impression that he was absolutely passionate and adamant about were issues that most everyone agreed with, such as rebuilding our country's economy. This was smooth on Obama's part, but I was also disappointed that he gave such vague solutions to certain problems. It definitely lightened the blow about some issues that require in-depth solutions, but I did not feel a heap of reassurance that he knew exactly what measures need to be taken to find reasonable solutions. He sort of danced around the tough topics by playing up his exceptional speaking skills and saying inspirational things about education and winning the future. He did a good job at pleasing the majority by not taking a contentious stance on certain issues, but I don't think he did not give a deliver enough specifics on the state of our union.